Bulgaria's jobless rate remains at record low 4.2% in July - employment agency

In annual terms, the jobless rate declined by 0.8 percentage points (pp) in July, the government agency said in a monthly statement.

At the end of July, there were 139,215 registered unemployed in Bulgaria overall - a negligible increase of 416 compared to June, mostly due to additional registrations from Ukrainian refugees with a temporary protection status. The number of registered unemployed declined 15.7% in annual terms.

As many as 20,362 people registered as unemployed last month, 89 fewer than in July last year and a monthly decline of 1,698.

A total of 12,885 unemployed found a job with the help of labour offices in the seventh month of 2022. This compared to 17,856 in the same month of 2021 and 22,744 in June of the current year, according to earlier statements.

The processing industry contributed the most to employment in July, with 18.7% of positions filled, followed by state administration with 12.9% and the hospitality sector - hotels and restaurants, with 12.6%.

There were 11,268 job vacancies registered with labour offices in the month under review, a decline from 22,417 in June. The processing and hospitality industries accounted for the largest number of vacancies posted, 25.4% and 15.3%, respectively.